Rouhani: Washington is ‘addicted to the policies of sanctions and threats’

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated during his inauguration speech today that Iran “won’t be the country that violates the [nuclear] agreement.” He also attacked Washington, accusing it of being unreliable and “addicted to the policies of sanctions and threats.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who began his second term on Saturday after being re-elected in May, harshly attacked the US regarding the nuclear deal during his inauguration speech. “We won’t be the country that violates the agreement,” he said. Rouhani also called America “a country that isn’t reliable when it comes to international issues.”

“We will not just stand by when the nuclear agreement is violated,” he continued. “We will not violate the agreement but we will not keep quiet when the United States is not upholding its side of the deal.” He then added: “This isn’t the day to present ‘the mother of all bomb’ or ‘the mother of all sanctions’ but rather [the day for] ‘the mother of all negotiations.’”

“Our weapons were developed for peace,” he added. According to Rouhani, the Trump and Obama administrations “became addicted to the policies of sanctions and threats, policies that are illegal and ineffective, thus showing the world that they are unreliable.” The Iranian president stated that “the era of imposing sanctions is over” and called for a special international conference on the agreement violations. Rouhani did not mention Israel by name during his inauguration speech but warned that there are “foreign forces that are creating chaos in the Middle East.”

On Tuesday, Iran submitted an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council, accusing Washington of breaching the nuclear deal. The complaint was filed in light of the US sanctions recently imposed on Iran. Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Turkey that he considers the recent US actions “hostile.”